Rich McGeorge, one of the most durable and productive tight ends in the history of the Green Bay Packers, died Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at Duke Hock Family Pavilion in Durham, N.C. McGeorge was 77.
Despite his small-school background at what was then Elon College, McGeorge was selected by the Packers with the 16th overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft. McGeorge had played both football and basketball at Elon, and the Packers had invested considerable time in evaluating his play in both sports.
"He stuck out like a sore thumb at Elon, but he was such a good athlete," Pat Peppler, the Packers' director of player personnel at the time, said of McGeorge in a 2005 interview. "Everybody who saw him raved about the guy in spite of the caliber of the competition. He was a very good basketball player, a good athlete and a tough guy."
McGeorge played nine seasons with the Packers and still ranks fourth in all-time receptions among the team's tight ends, a position first filled by Gary Knafelc in 1959, Vince Lombardi's first season as coach. The only Packers' tight ends over the 67 seasons since who have caught more passes than McGeorge are Paul Coffman, Jermichael Finley and Ron Kramer.
McGeorge became a starter in his second season and held the job for eight overall, missing all but two games in 1972 with a knee injury and one other game in 1977. In all, he started 101 of 116 games, catching 175 passes for 2,370 yards, a 13.5 average, and 13 touchdowns.
"He was a good tight end," former NFL tight end and Packers assistant coach Bob Schnelker, who was in charge of the team's passing game in McGeorge's first two seasons, said in a 2003 interview. "I liked Rich. He was a smart kid. He wasn't as tenacious as some of those other tight ends, but he could block pretty good. He could catch the ball. He probably could have played outside a little bit like they do now days with tight ends. He was sort of nifty."
McGeorge, arguably the Packers' best receiver at the time, and Gale Gillingham, who had been an all-pro guard before being moved to defensive tackle that year by Dan Devine, were both injured in the second game of the 1972 season, a loss to Oakland Raiders.
While the Packers won the NFC Central Division that season, their only title between Lombardi's last season as coach and Mike Holmgren's fourth, more than one player on that team believed that with a healthy Gillingham and McGeorge, they had the talent to reach the Super Bowl.
Quarterback Scott Hunter was one.
"That was just a blow to lose Rich early in the year," Hunter said in a 2007 interview. "He was 35 catches easy during the season. We opened up in the Cleveland game and he had two touchdown passes from me, and I loved to throw to the tight end and was very good at throwing to the tight end because I could anticipate and put it into a crack before he even got there.
"So that was a big loss to me. And Gale, I don't know how you quantify that, but he was an all-pro guard. I think our offensive line did pretty good without him, but who knows what they could have done with him. They still were pretty overpowering."
Following his playing career, McGeorge served as an assistant coach at Duke, Florida, with the Miami Dolphins, and then with North Carolina Central and Shaw.
